Intuit has unveiled QuickBooks Bureau Payroll, which it hopes will enhance payroll management for accountants and bookkeepers across the UK.
The standalone cloud-based solution is designed to meet the needs of accounting professionals, promising seamless integration with other major accounting software products such as Xero, Sage, Iris, and more.
Intuit says the product comes as a response to the fact that small and medium-sized businesses now look to be outsourcing payroll tasks more than ever.
QuickBooks Bureau Payroll
The announcement claims accountants tend to find payroll services a low-margin area of their services, thus efficiency improvements through automation can help considerably. Bureau Payroll promises to automate payruns, pensions and RTI submissions, tax code updates, and more.
Its integration with other rival companies, such as Xero, Sage, FreshBooks, and more, also allows accountants to run payroll from a single, consolidated dashboard. Companies have historically kept technical barriers up in order to lock customers into their services, however we’ve seen greater interoperability in recent years not only because of emerging antitrust cases but also as a response to user demand.
Intuit QuickBooks UK Product Director Nick Williams commented: “Ensuring seamless collaboration and integration was also a priority given most accountancy firms need to support multiple payroll tools to service their clients.”
The service also promises to deliver timely automatic software updates in line with government rules and regulations.
Feedback from early adopters highlights the platform’s effectiveness in enhancing operational efficiency and client service. One such customer, Fiona McIlwaine from DNT Chartered Accountants, said: “Managing payroll for over 120 clients, we’ve found its automated features and cloud-based system a major upgrade from traditional desktop solutions.”
As accountant demands continue to evolve in a world of increasingly distributed work and emerging SMBs, Intuit hopes that its early entry to this area of the market can help it to stand out.
